Carrying big expectations and back-to-back NFC North titles, the Detroit Lions opened the season with a thud, a big one.
Detroit snapped a 3-game win streak at Lambeau Field with a 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
“We didn’t play good enough, we didn’t coach good enough, including me, and we didn’t play good enough,’’ coach Dan Campbell said.
The coach told the team it’s tough to go in and certainly not play close to your best game.
“You hate starting the season out with a loss and as bad as that is, it’s not what it appears to be,’’ Campbell said. “So like I told them, let’s clean up the tape. We made some critical errors at the worst times possible. You don’t do those, you take those out of the equation; it looks different . you feel like it’s going to be a totally different scenario but we did make those critical errors at the worst time.’’
The offense, which didn’t score a touchdown until the waning minutes, could not get in gear.
“We never really got in a rhythm. We did for a couple of drives where we got it down there, then we didn’t finish. We weren’t able to finish with 7. We had to settle for 3, then we had an interception,’’ Campbell said. “Other than that we never got into a rhythm.”
The coach said he thought they would play cleaner but the mistakes are all correctable.
“Our players are accountable, they’re ready. Nobody takes it worse than they do,’’ Campbell said. “That’s the good news, we’ve got the right dudes.’’
FIVE REASONS FOR THE LOSS:
ONE: The new-look offensive line did not get the job done. Not only is the standard high for this unit, but they faced newest Packer Micah Parsons who moved along the line when he was in the game. As expected, he was a huge presence. It was a lot to handle for rookie right guard Tate Ratledge and left guard Christian Mahogany. Center Graham Glasgow was adjusting to taking over at center too. The line’s play was a big reason the run game could not get in a rhythm, averaging just 2.1 yards per rush. “When your run game is not quite clicking the way you want it to, that affects your play pass and then your’re down two scores then those guys are going to pin their ears back and that’s hard on any offensive line,’’ Campbell said.
TWO: On the other side, the Lions defensive pass rush was not effective and the secondary gave up too many big plays. Aidan Hutchinson was in the mix at times but did not record a sack or tackle. In his defense, he is always double-teamed but last season he had 7.5 sacks in five games. Linebacker Derrick Barnes’ pick-six was negated by a holding penalty.
THREE: Jared Goff has had better games, but he’s used to having better protection and more time to throw. He was sacked four times — including a late one by Parsons — and pressured early and often. Goff actually passed for more yards (31-38 for 225 yards) than Jordan Love (16-22 for 188) but Love threw a pair of TD passes. Goff had a late TD pass, but also a critical interception.
FOUR: The offense did move the ball at times and ate up the clock, but couldn’t finish when they got to the Red Zone. New coordinator John Morton can certainly take part of the blame but the players need to look in the mirror.. They were just 1-of-4 in the Red Zone which is not good enough and, worse yet, they were 5-of-15 on third downs. “I thought they had a good plan but that doesn’t take away from us doing what we needed to do,’’ Campbell said.
FIVE: Before the game, Campbell said mistakes were key to the outcome. Six penalties were costly. Mistakes made on both sides of the ball. More was expected. He mentioned “critical errors” several times in his post-game presser but was confident they are correctable.
BONUS: Lions rookie WR Isaac TeSlaa made an amazing touchdown catch late in the game. It was the offensive highlight and a sign of things to come from the Pride of Hudsonville. If you haven’t seen the video, check it out.
UP NEXT: Chicago Bears at Lions, 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14 at Ford Field. The Bears face the Vikings on Monday Night Football in their season opener.
Lions Lowdown 